Snow melting machine



y 1958 's. l. WADS'WORTH 2,845,

SNOW MELTING MACHINE Filed April 14, 1955 INVENTOR. JIM/ 020 I. Wfflf/Ydifl/ 7 SNOW MELTING MACHINE Sahfor'd I-L Wadsworth;Jackson Heights, N. Y. Application April 14, 1955,; Serial Dim-501,313

This, invention relates to asnow melting vehicle; or maehine.

It is an object of the invention to provide a-- snow melting vehicle. having a blower to deliverfinely divided snow into a chamber where it'will be melted the hot, burning gases,- withinthe chamber anddrained. from the chamber as water.

It is another object of the invention to provide a snow melting vehicle in: which the hotexhaust gasesused to melt siiow blown into a melt-ingchamber are recirculated through: the chamber by a gas turbine device which. delivers-intense heat.

It is still another object of the invention. to provide a snow melting. vehicle operated by agas turbine engine which: deliversrandpropelshot exhaust gases to melt-finely divided. snow at. the point the gases are blown into the chamber and, in sucha manner as to etfect: injection or Ventirri action into the delivered snow.

It is still another object ofthe invention to provide a snow melting vehicle in which a portion of the hotexhaust gases used tomelt, finely difiused snow in the chamber are exhaustedwith the melted snow anddirected toward the. ground surface.

It is. afurther ohject ofithe inventionto provide a-snow melting vehicle having means for distributing salt to the. melted snow or water as it: is discharged from the melting chamber to prevent later freezing on the ground surface.

It is a still further object. of the: invention. to provide a snow melting" vehicle having an angled scraper to divert the discharged heated water toward the gutter.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide a snowmelting vehicle in which snow picked: up by a rotary, pick up and deliyery device istfed to a high-speed blower which finely diifuses the snow and delivers'itinto a meltingchamber,

Other objects of the invention are to provide asnow melting vehicle having the above objects in view which" is of simple construction, inexpensive to manufacture and operate, is compact, has a minimum number of parts, does a complete snow removal job, is efficient and economical in operation and easy to use.

For other objects and a better understanding of the invention, reference may be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of the snow melting vehicle with parts broken away to show more clearly certain details;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the snow melting vehicle shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the vehicle taken on line 3--3 of Fig. l;

Fig. 4 is a front view of the snow melting vehicle, showing the scoop, viewed from the line 4-4 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is an elevational view of a snow throwing chute removed from the snow delivery duct.

My improved snow removing vehicle generally includes United States P tent 0 2,845,058 Patented-- J-uly' 29,; 1958 a trucle-having; a chassis, motorand: operatorrss cab;;- a rotarysnow piclrrup, and delivery unit ismounte'd in front of thetruck and the? snow' meltingq'unit is'mountedvon the truck chassis behind the'cab:

I am aware thatv there are a number ofrprior? art-v snow melting machines; However, -the;- prior ant:does not-1show a compact snowmelting device: of-largei capacity which can: be operated at1-low' cost. My device melts? snow rapidly in a relatively smallunit becausefinely divided snow is blown into the exhaust blast from. a gas turbine of. the: aircraft-1 type. i

Referring now tothe drawings; 10' representsz'a motor truck: and chassis.- having an olfset' operatoiiscab 11 and? an offset internabcombustioni engine 12. since tlr'e truclcis of: conventional constructiom. it will not bode!- scribed: in details Qther: types oft vehicles; or carriers can: be? used.

A conventional snow? rotary'pic'k up-and deliver-y .chain- 24-, and sprockets: 25,,- 26 and chain 2 The sprockets are dimensioned to have blades; 1-9 rotating-,- at a:much-11igher speed than blades 18'.- The ratio of-- speed ofzthebladee19'to the'blades18is six to-one. a

Rotatingblades 18 cut up: the packed snow 28 and tbrow'it -up over contoured surface 29 torrapidlyi rotating blades-19:- The latter blades further break-- down the snow" and blowit. at-v high. speed throughduct 30-into melting'cliamber' unit:31-; Since the rotarypickup and delivery is conventional, it need=.n'ot be described: in full details The duct-'30is1split' to provide=branch= pipes 30" and'30" for respectively, receiving; the snow from-the respective spaced setsofi blades,' 19, Fig. 2'. The duct 30'-has: a-removableplate 32 secured to the upper surface thereof: and: upon being, removed. a snow diverting duct 72;,Fig..5 can be insertedto deliver snow; to. the side of the truck at. timeswhenfthe melting": chamber unit- SL is notvnee'dedt The melting chamber unit 31 is supported] upon the truck 10' inrear ofithe cab 1-1-. This chamber unit is maderof; a: high temperature resisting; steel alloy andz an inner cylindricalsshapedwalb31 of-the chamber iscoated with ceramic or other fireproof material; The'ductdfl is flared as indicated at30arat thelocation whereit ex; tends= into the: chamber 3-1.- The: snow is accordingly delivered from the flared end 30a in such a manner as to spread snow through the chamber and direct it toward circular burner units 33 and 34.

Each burner unit has a circular manifold 35 with radially-inwardly ext-ending burner nozzles 36 to direct flames into the center of the chamber toward which the blast of snow entering the melting chamber is directed from the flared entering end of the snow delivery duct 30. Fuel is supplied to the burners from a fuel tank 37 mounted upon the top of the melting chamber unit 31 at the rear end thereof, through a pipe line 38, a fuel pump 39, a fuel supply line 40 leading from the pump and branch pipes 41 and 42 respectively connected with the burner units 33 and 34. An electric motor or other power means 43 drives the pump 39. A magneto 44 supplies electric ignition current through cable 45 and branch cab'les 46 and 47 that respectively connect with respective spark terminals 48 of the respective burner units 33 and 34. Ground terminal elements 49 are provided on the burner units adjacent to the respective terminals 48 to 3 draw the igniting sparks across the fuel supply nozzles 36.

The chamber unit has a downwardly and rearwardly inclined bottom 51 over which the water resulting from the melting of the snow drains and into a drop chamber passage 52 and onto the road surface for flow off to the side of the road. On the drop chamber passage is a scraper device 53 having an inclined scraper blade 54 for collecting and directing the movement of the water towardthe side of the road. In order to prevent the wa- 'ter from freezing and to leave the road surface without glare ice, a salt supply box 55 is mounted on the chamber and has a drain pipe 56 that directs the salt to the road surface behind the scraper blade 54. Inorder to heat the chamber adjacent to the bottom 51, the exhaust gases from the pancake engine 21' that drives the snow pick-up and delivery device on the front of the truck and from the truck engine 12 are directed by ducts 57 and 58 leading respectively therefrom and entering the chamber 31 at one side thereof to direct the exhaust gases over 'the lower portion of the chamber.

A gasoline supply tank 59 is mounted on the chamber unit 31 forwardly of the fuel tank 37 for supplying gasoline to the truck engine 12 through the pipe 60 and to the snow pickup and delivery device pancake engine 21' through pipe line 61.

To provide further means to recirculate the heated gases in the chamber a recirculating duct 62 is mounted on the top of the melting snow chamber and has an inlet connection 63 from the top of the rear portion of the melting chamber 31 and a flared outward end 64 surrounding or concentric with the flared end 30a of the snow duct 30 to efiect injection action upon the snow entering the melting chamber from the duct 30.

- A damper gate 65 is hinged at 66 and is adjusted by means of a hand wheel mechanism 67 located forwardly adjacent to the cab 11 on general control panel 67' therein to position the damper between the inlet connection 63 and an external air supply opening 67a to control the mixture of gases and air delivered to the duct 62 to a gas turbine engine 68 of the aircraft type having mounting brackets 69 and 70 that secure the turbine within the duct 62 and upon the top of the melting chamber 31. Fuel is supplied to this gas turbine from the fuel tank 37 by a pipe 71. Accordingly, not only will the gases be reburned when being circulated through the duct but further gases and propelling action will be maintained so that the chamber will be constantly supplied with moving hot gases to insure full treatment of the snow and to prevent any stoppage or piling up of such snow in the melting chamber. The gas turbine may be used alone under some conditions to melt the snow in the chamber.

In Fig. 5, there is shown snow chute 72 that is inserted into the snow duct 30 upon removal of the plate 32 at times when only a minor snow operation is needed of the machine and when the snow is not deep on the ground. The snow melting chamber and equipment is dispensed 4 with at this time. This chute 72 has an angularly adjustable upper end as indicated at 72 to direct the snow to the side of the vehicle. Its lower end has a deflector 73 that will lie within the duct 30 to direct the snow upwardly from the duct 30 as it is blasted therethrough. A longitudinally-extending fire wall 75 is mounted on the top of the snow melting chamber 31 to isolate the gas turbine 68 from the fuel and gasoline tanks 37 and 59, Fig. 3.

-It should now be apparent that there has been provided a snow melting vehicle means for picking up snow and delivering it under pressure to a melting chamber Where there is provided an adequate amount of heat to instantly and efficiently convert the snow to water so that it may be drained or led off from the road surface.

It will be seen that any one of the sources of the hot gases may be effected and can be used independently or together as the case may demand to melt the snow.

It is also apparent that the heating arrangements can be built into a stationary machine or upon portable household carriages.

While various changes may be made in the detail construction, it shall be understood that such changes shall be within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A snow melting machine comprising a melting chamber having a snow inlet duct in one side thereof, a gas recirculating duct connected between another side of the melting chamber and the one side thereof, said duct at its connection with the one side of the chamber surrounding and concentric with said snow inlet duct to produce a suction eifect upon the snow entering the chamber through the snow inlet duct and to diffuse the snow entering the melting chamber, and a fuel and air consuming gas turbine engine in said recirculating duct to reheat, reburn and supply hot snow melting gases to the melting chamber.

2. A snow melting machine as defined in claim 1 and a fuel burner mounted in the melting chamber to direct flame upon the snow entering the chamber and valve means in the recirculating duct between the melting chamber and the turbine engine to permit control of the amount of gases leaving the melting chamber therethrough.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 950,895 Cuntz Mar. 1, 1910 1,642,895 Robinson Sept. 20, 1927 1,742,968 Polak Ian. 7, 1930 1,806,069 Lloyd May 19, 1931 2,261,732 OBrien Nov. 4, 1941 2,546,339 Green Mar. 27, 1951 2,602,443 Leary July 8, 1952 

